суббота, 7 марта 2015 г.

Ottoman artillery in Temeswar in 1716 by Costin Fenesan

Costin Fenesan published a very interesting
material about the artillery of Temeswar (Timişoara) fortress in 1716 (link to download). It contains
an inventory list of the captured fortress artillery. The article is in Romanian language, the inventory list at the end – in German. It's a very rare description of the real composition of the Ottoman & Habsburg fortress artillery in XVII-XVIII centuries.

Temeswar had 156 guns at
the start of the siege: 123 bronze cannons (with calibers ranging from a
quarter pound to 48 pounds), 16 iron cannons (from half a pound to 70 pounds),
9 bronze mortars (from 60 to 100 pounds) and 8 howitzers (from one pound to 48
pounds). During the siege, 62 guns (41%) were completely
destroyed, while 92 pieces (59%) survived, being used by the Imperials to
defend Temeswar. 120 guns (76,9% from the originally 156 ere small caliber pieces
(from a quarter pound to 12 pounds), 23 (14,8%) were medium caliber guns (from
15 to 36 pounds) and the remaining 13 were heavy caliber pieces (from 48 to 100
pounds).

84 guns of Temeswar (53,8%) were made in
Ottoman gunneries, while the remaining 72 (46,2%) were German, Austrian and
Transylvanian pieces from the 16th–17th centuries, seized by the Ottoman army
during the battles with the Habsburg troops. While 41 Ottoman guns (48,9%) were
completely destroyed during the siege, the remaining 43 (51,1%) have been kept
by the Imperials to defend Temeswar.

As for the occidental guns, only 5 pieces were
prior to 1552, when the fortress of Temeswar was taken after an Ottoman siege.
Other 8 guns were from the second half of the 16th century, among them 2
Transylvanian pieces, most probably seized by the Ottomans during the unsuccessful
siege of Temeswar by prince Sigismund Bathory in 1597. Several pieces are
marked with the name of the German, Austrian or Italian gunmaster (e.g. from
Nurnberg, Augsburg, Pressburg, Salzburg, Cremona or Milan) and the date of
their manufacture. The 35 German and Austrian guns from the 17th century – most
of them from the last two decades – landed in Temeswar as a result of the
military clashes between the Habsburgs and the Ottoman Porte, especially during
the long war from 1683 to 1699.

At the same time, we have to point out, that
the Ottoman fortress of Temeswar was very well provided with shells and
gunpowder. After its surrender, the imperial army captures here 13.022 different
shells, 2.823 centennials (about 158 metric tons) of gunpowder and about 2.000
centennials (about 112 metric tons) of leadplates.

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This blog is dedicated to Russian military history (wars, organization, uniforms, colors, weapons) & related topics (enemies & allies - their organisation, uniforms, etc). Among my favorite topics also are Polish-Lithuanian state & army, Ottoman army & Polish Succession war 1733-35.
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